1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an aid to assist a person in developing a golf swing, the aid being of the type wherein a ball is tethered.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tethered golf balls are well known and are in common use, but usually they are associated with an elastomeric cord of some type so that the golf ball will be at least partly returned to the golfer after having been struck. Unfortunately however, the golf ball when struck with merely an elastomeric cord and a peg in the ground will return high in the air and sometimes with sufficient force to actually constitute a hazard to a golfer.
The alternative in using an inextensible cord has also been proposed, but that of course fails to return the ball to the golfer.
The difficulty has been recognised and reference may be made to Australian Patent No. 540409 in the names of PRETORIUS and BATH, wherein inextensible "filaments" were used, one long filament extending between spaced apart posts and being stretched and the other short filament being slidable along the long filament and having the ball attached to it. The resilience of the entire structure was relied upon for rapid return of the ball, but that arrangement is possibly unsuitable for golfing, in that the ball is normally suspended from the long filament. This is however used to hit the ball along the inextensible string rather than transverse to it.
There are several other suggestions whereby a ball is supported on a string supported from a further string extended between two posts. Examples of these can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,386,989 by Broadway, 4,216,960 by Nichols, 3,658,330 by Maestracci et al, 2,772,882 by Anson, and 1,708,796 by Lawrence. These however all include the use of extensible elastomeric cords connecting to the ball, or use no extensible elastomeric cords at all.